International Trade as Discourse: Construction of a “China Threat” through Fakes

Abstract

ABSTRACTChina’s fish exports are hindered by association of the county with fakes. This negative image of China as a Country-of-Origin means its fish exports are disadvantaged by the hegemony of the “original”, the view that products from developing countries are adulterated. Against this hegemony, the article is sensitive to the plurality of meanings of food safety and uses a poststructuralist approach to interpret food scares as hegemonic narratives that (re)create reality. At an ontological level, the food scare is read as “logic” of Othering, the construction of a “China threat”. This article uses the “food scare” news in Kenyan newspapers to describe how international trade is part of processes of fixing the meaning of Country-of-origin and creating a “China threat”. Utilising discourse theoretical analysis, the article describes the food safety news as part of the national hegemonic construction of a “China threat” through economism, scientism and political myths.